The Challenge

The Crypto Box Challenge is a contest to
decipher three scrambled pieces of text. You can use the Crypto Box program, a tool to transposition letters, to help you
break the code. This is done by shuffling the rows and
columns of the text square. Retrieving the original
position of the letters has proven to be a real challenge
due to the large number of possible moves and the complex
way the letters travel around the square. Even the
simplest shuffles with a few steps create a true
brain-teasing puzzle. After the great success of the Enigma Challenge, with competitors from more than 30 countries,
this is the second contest to show your code cracking
skills to the rest of the world.

The Challenge consists of three shuffled portions of
text, numbered 1, 2 and 3.
These are little poems in the English language. Each of
these boxes has its own difficulty level. The easiest one
is Box 3, which can be solved in only 5
steps. Box 2 is more challenging and
needs 10 steps to be solved. Finally, we have Box
1, a most complex and challenging puzzle which
requires 20 steps to complete. Cracking this one will put
you on top of the ranking! What's in it for you? A place
in the Table Of
Honor and the respect of fellow
codebreakers, crypto amateurs and puzzle freaks from all
over the world!

Some usefull tips on cracking the
boxes:

The words are written out without
any space or other character between them.

To limit the complexity there are
never more that two successive identical steps.

The text is trailed with X
characters to complete the box.

*** LATEST NEWS ***

* George Lasry from Israel is de sixth
person in more than nine years to solve all three
boxes. Congratulations, George!
* You can still participate in the Crypto Box
Challenge! Your results will be listed in the Table Of Honor
* No less than 67 codebreakers from 23 different
countries have already joined the challenge.

How To Participate

The Crypto Box Challenge started on
December 6, 2007. It is your task to shuffle the rows and
columns of the box in such a way that the original text
appears. Start by decrypting Box 3. If
you succeed in cracking the box, you should send me an e-mail without hesitation. Include your full name,
your country, the plain text solution and the used key.
Your position in the Table of Honor depends on the date
of submission! It is only after cracking Box 3
that you are allowed to attack Box 2,
and that box needs to be solved before you can submit the
most difficult one, Box 1.

You can download the Crypto Box software on this website. This software is optional but
very usefull. You can copy and past the Challenge Boxes
into the Crypto Box by using the 'Box' menu, and start
the challenge. Of course, you can also use the program to
create your own puzzles, or even encrypt short messages.
With every new step the encryption becomes stronger and
more complex. Don't forget that the 20 steps key of Box 1
is just a small key!

Finally, if you have deciphered a
message, please do not publish or distribute the solution
on the internet or elsewhere!